03-12-2009Live reviews - Rise Against
With support from Poison the Well & Thursday
Outside the Apollo and I have a long wait before the gig. Tonight's billing is strong one and popular amongst most with an alternative punk persuasion, and as the the queue that snakes around the building grows from a grass snake to an anaconda you get a true sense of the popularity long before the doors even open.All but a few of the seats in the stalls are completely sold out, and there's a anticipation is evident on the faces of many a youngster trying to avoid the rain by grouping together under the tiny awaning.
As Poison The Well take to the stage the room starts to fill and the security do a good job of ushering people in at rapid pace. As usual the boys are on fine form. Even playing a set hardly even draws from "Opposite Of December", they still show just why they have been held in such a high regard for so long. Just why this band who are regarded so highly till opennights like tonight perplexes many. Listening to a set that draws heavily from the outstanding new album 'The Tropic Rot' it is evident that whilst this is a form of epiphany in music for some to the masses it just isn't quite boxed and presented in the fashion that sets the chart loving kids on fire. Primack and Co look as if they are really enjoying their status and why not being able to go from tours with metallers like 36 Crazyfists to then being so adept at pleasing the large majority if punk rock Rise Against fans is testament to the music they have created.
Thursday are hotly anticiated even gathering a chant before eventually coming out on stage.. The band have been famed since Full Collapse although it is fair to say that they never have quite recaptured the hights that they were pitted upon with the first and emo classic release 'Full Collapse'. Even after numbers of quality live shows they've never made it back to the top of the pile. Tonight exemplifies this, as their all too brief set shows a band that have the songs on paper but should have been destined to bigger things but being unable to convey the individual tracks from the ast four cd's with anything like the affect they are needed to have.
When did Rise Against get so damn big? The band that appear to have surpassed all expectations that were placed upon them by all media and fans alike. Who could have though that the Rise Against that released "revolutions per minute" on Fat Wreck and acted as supports for antiflag could ever take the matel of the major charges in punk rock. Tonight is tr recognition of this face. By no means underserved and as video screens provide an epic backdrop of war and other global attrocities, it's clear the band have lost none of their political fervour, only now there ability to creat songs has gone above and beyond that of just angst, it has intellect and understanding woven amongst the passion. Their progressive and anthemic songs are sung back at them by everyone in the room and it's brilliant. 'Savior' from new album 'Appeal to Reason' is my personal favourite and the touching rendition of Swing Life Away resonates throughout. I've read 'this band are going to be big' bollocks to that this band already are big!
